10 FRONTLINES
BEARDY BOXING
The final of the Vauxhall UK Beatboxing Championships take
place at Carling Academy Islington, London on June 13th. One
of the judges on the night will be the amazing Beardyman so we
recently grabbed him for a few words about the event...
HOW IMPORTANT ARE THE VAUXHALL UK CHAMPIONSHIPS TO NOISE UP
THE BEATBOXING SCENE?
The beatboxing scene isn’t so much a scene as a community based Noisia have just put the finishing touches to their Fabric Live mix (to be released in June) and
around human beatbox.com. Beatboxers have more communication they’ve also been approached to remix the massive ‘Operation Blade’ by Public Domain, the title
and activity with each other online than anywhere else, it’s ‘cause track from the Blade movie. As well as a vocal version of their dirty ‘Gutterpump’ track (released
of the internet that beatboxing has grown into an artform in recent on Skint soon), the original has been picked up by Heineken for a huge advertising campaign
years. There must be other niche interests that have been given a throughout Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands during the summer. The new album is in the
lifeline by forums and YouTube in a similar way to that of beatbox, making with the first single shaping up to be ‘Split The Atom’ featuring the Foreign Beggars, due for
but it’s an amazing thing. The championships are a focal point release in June. Finally, you’ll also be able to pick up two versions of their recent remix of Moby’s
for beatboxers of all standards around the country, so it’s big, ‘Alice’ on their own Vision label very soon.
especially with more and more kids beatboxing.
WHAT QUALITIES WILL YOU BE LOOKING FOR ON THE NIGHT?
Well, hopefully there wont be a need for the judges to intervene.
It goes by crowd response, but defaults to the judges when the
crowd can’t make up their mind. But qualities I’ll be looking for
include showmanship, accuracy, musicality and realism amongst
other things.
HOW HAS BEATBOXING CHANGED SINCE YOU STARTED?
Beatbox hasn’t changed that much, what HAS changed is the
number of people doing it. There’s loads of kids in their early teens
who are gonna be massive when they’re old enough to play clubs. I
know this 15-year-old kid who’s as good as any other top beatboxer
in the world who can’t compete ‘cause there’s an age limit. There is
the possibility however, that there will be so many kids doing it by
the time these kids are old enough that it will have lost its novelty
slightly. I saw this four-year-old beatboxing really well on YouTube
the other day. Quite scary actually.
WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON?
I’ve been working with different producers for a while now and I’m
going to gather some of those together for a release at some point
soon. I’ve also got a ridiculous new live show with the craziest
looping set-up you’ve ever seen and it’s almost ready to take on
the road. Also my club night Battlejam that I run with current DMC
champion JFB and legendary producer Ed Solo is going really well. STORY TIME
It’s an improvised hip hop, drum & bass, ragga, dubstep night where
it often gets silly and the crowd gets sampled and scratched into From dancehall to dubstep, hip-hop to jungle, UK by taking the influences of Jamaican reggae
the madness. There’s nothing like it anywhere, we’re on the cutting grime to garage, the MC has been present and US hip-hop and writing songs about their
edge of music technology and improvisational ridiculousness. Go to through all these UK music fashions: from the UK surroundings and subject matter. We have
myspace.com/battlejam for a total headfuck. ‘fast-chat’ dancehall style of the 1980s (artists 20 copies to give away. To enter the draw just
such as Papa Levi, Tippa Irie, Smiley Culture), send the answer to the following question to
WHAT DO YOU HAVE COMING OUT SOON? the history of UK Hip-Hop (London Posse, Roots rachel@kmag.co.uk with ‘England Story Comp’ in
I’ve got a breaksy hip-hoppy track with A-Skills coming out soon Manuva, Ty), original Jungle MCs (General Levy, the subject header.
and a drum & bass track with The Qemists on their new album. Navigator, Tenor Fly), or the new wave of current
Aside from that there’s some exciting stuff coming out soon on the grime and dubstep artists and producers (Wiley, England is part of which continent?
Battlejam label. Some of the craziest bits of the last four Battlejam Stush, Warrior Queen, Riko Dan). ‘An England A. Africa
nights and some stuff we’ve been messing about with, all put into Story’ is a new double CD compilation that shows B. Europe
the weirdest, wickedest album ever. Check the MySpace for details. how these artists defined black identity in the C. Asia
K08-22_Frontlines.indd 10 23/4/08 11:49:43
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